Dramatic and Musical.

Otago Witness, Issue 1417, 18 January 1879, Page 11

Dramatic and Musical.

THE THEATRES, &c

The Kelly and Leon Minstrels and Burlesque Opera Company were to bring their Dunedin season to a close at the end of the week. This troupe has met with most encouraging success during the month it has remained here, the houses having been well filled almost every night. This vreek a double change of programme has taken place, and the entertainments, if anything, have increased in merit thereby. The more one sees of Leon the more does one become convinced of his remarkable cleverness. His personation of a Spanish danseuse in the burletta ' ' Uncle Jack "is astonishingly graceful and skilful, and his other three characters in the same production are also vqry finished and natural conceptions. The Minstrels will next visit Oamaru and Timaru, and will afterwards go on to Ohristchurch to join the steamer for Melbourne vi& the Bluff. Mr Liddy, who ia well known in Melbourne as the proprietor of a theatrical rendezvous in Bourke street, has arrived in Dunedin, and bi ings with him a minstrel and dramatic company — the Georgias — a combination of the Original Georgias and the Only Origioal Georgias, both, of which companies recently played " Uncle Tom's Cabin " in Sydney at the same time. The troupe will produce the dramatisation of Mrs Stowe's famous little work here in a few days. It includes Fanny Wiseman, who enacted the part of Topsy at the Princess Thea tre, Melbourne, when the play met with such a splendid run. The music-lpvers of Kaikorai have established a Choral Union, and as they have plenty of talent in that neighbourhood, their undertaking promises to be crowned with every success. Mr J. W. Edmonds has been elected conductor. His heart is thoroughly set on music, and the members of the Union may congratulate themselves on having secured his services. The departure of Mr A. J. Towsey for Europe has created two vacancies in musical societies here. The position of conductor of the Dunedin Glee Club has been filled by Mr Charles Waud, and that of conductor of the Duaedin j Choral Society by Mr G. R. West. Both gentlemen have taken a very active interest in the development of musical talent in the city, and perhaps no one is more competent to nssume j these positions than they are. Under their guidance these musical bodies ought to make rapid and substantial progress. The members of the Choral Society are rehearsing Mendelssohn's magnificent oratorio "Elijah," which, it is expected, will be produced in the course of eight or ten weeks. A day or two ago I was afforded an opportunity of inspecting a very simple and useful instrument called the Handloiter, or hand-rest, which is intended as an aid to pupils who are learning the art of pianoforte playing. It is the invention of an American German named Behrer, who has only lately patented it, and cannot fail to bo of inestimable advantage to musical students. Madame Miiller, of York place, has received one of them from America, and tells me that it accomplishes its object with remarkable success. It consists of a round bar of polished walnut, about an inch and a half in diameter, which can be fixed to the pianoforte a few inches from the key-board by means of clam screws. Upon this bar are placed a couple of steel wristlets, which serve as rests for the wrists of the pupil. The wristlets can be raised or lowered, as required, and slide up end down the rod at will with the utmost ease. The effect of using the hand rest a few months whilst practising scales and exercises is to habituate the pupil to play with the fingers rather than, as is too often observed in beginners, moving the whole of the arm as well as the shoulders in striking the notes. The hand-rest is sure to be employed largely as it becomes better known. During the sitting o£ Presbyterian Synod on Wednesday, the Rev. J. W. Inglis, who has been lecturing in the city during the last two or three weeks, on " The Songs aud^ Music of Scotland," and other subjects, mentioned that in Victoria he had seen an aboriginal young lady play the pianoforte with a grace, elegance, and skill that would put many of her fairer sißters to the blush. That beats the Maoris. Levy, the cornet-player, was at last accounts travelling in Ohio with a concert company, of which Miss Kellog, Miss Carey, and Signor Rosnati were leading members. lima di Murska has an engagement in New York, at the Grand Opera House, to sing in grand Sunday evening concerts, which are drawing large crowds. Gilbert and Sullivan's nautioal comic opera, entitled " H,M,S, Pinafore," has now had a

brilliant run of 140 nights, and still draws large audiences. Miss Lawler is the last London aspirant for histrionic honours. She nightly appears in " Stage Struck," and has already won universal commendation. The obituary-list has just been added to by the death of Mr Phelps, the eminent tragedian. i He was born in 1806, and died November 6th, 1878. He died from congestion of the brain, and had boon ailing for some time previously. The veterian comedian, Mr Buckstone, is also on his last legs, and a subscription is being talked of on his behalf. Riviere's promenade concerts at Covent Garden have just terminated. A special feature of these concerts was the introduction of the famous double piano, invented and patented by ! Messrs Mangeot Freres, of Paris. This unique instrument possesses the questionable advantage of two manuals, one being as in an ordinary pianoforte, whilst in the other keyboard the scale is reversed, bass being where _ treble is usually. The performers on this piano have been various, but as yet no great success has been achieved on it. I understood, also, that the excessive price will militate in a great measure against the introduction of such an instrument to the drawing-room. _ The production of new operas in Italy and in Germany and in Prance is continuous. On every occasion a success is chronicled, but whether the work will travel^ beyond the boundaries of the city in which it is brought out is certainly doubtful. At Monza, near Milan, a four-act" opera, called "Arrigo II.," by a, young composer, Signor Antonio Palmenteri, has been produced. He was recalled twentyfive times, but, per contra, there was only^ one encore. At Darmstadt, Herr R. Emmerich's new work, "Der Schwedensee," was produced. At the Ope"ra Comique in Vienna, now called the Ringtbeater, a three-act comic opera, entitled " Die Wallfahrt der Koniginn " (" The Queen's Pilgrimage"), the music by HerrJ. Forster, turns out to be a setting of Scribe's libretto " Giralda," the music of which was composed by Adolphe Adam. _ From Paris there is more important information that on the 10th ult., at the Salle Favarb (Opera Oomique), the new opera "TJn Jour de Nooes" will be produced, book by M. Sardou, music by M. Defies. Fitzeuic.